If you play golf in Oregon, you may well have walked a course designed by H. Chandler Egan (August 21, 1884 – April 5, 1936), one of the nation’s top golfers at the turn of the 20th Century and one of our state's most influential golf course designers.
Egan took up golf at age 12 and led Harvard to the national collegiate title from 1902 to 1904. He won the individual title as a sophomore. Egan also won the U.S. Amateur in 1904 and led the U.S. team to the gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Summer Games. He was the individual silver medalist and won the U.S. Amateur title again in 1905.
Egan moved to Oregon in 1909, bought an orchard in Medford. When returned to competition in 1914, he went right back to his winning ways, taking the Pacific Northwest Golf Association amateur title five times. He also played on the U.S. Walker Cup team twice in 1930 and 1934.
While playing golf, he took to course design during the 1910s and is credited with designing or assisting in construction of 18 golf courses, including nine in Oregon: Coos Country Club, Eastmoreland, Eugene Country Club, Hood River Golf and Country Club, Oswego Country Club, Reames Golf and Country Club, Riverside Golf and Country Club Seaside Golf Club, The Oaks and The Rogue at Rogue Valley Country Club and the Tualatin Country Club. Egan also assisted with some of the design of the Pebble Beach golk links in California.
Egan was also a charter member of the Southern Oregon pear packing co-op.
Chandler Egan was inducted to the PNGA Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Medford Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.